


Nail In The Coffin

by beeswaxing



Series: Trophy Wife [19]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 05:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17115254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeswaxing/pseuds/beeswaxing
Summary: Indulged out of hand in pretty much everything, Changmin wants for absolutely nothing. Attending Fashion Week not as a supermodel walking the various runways but as Shim Changmin, fiancé to Jung Yunho will certainly be an affair to remember.





	Nail In The Coffin

**Author's Note:**

> You have to read Expensive first as this follows immediately after.
> 
> Please note that this was started in Nov 2017 almost immediately after Expensive judging from the time stamp on the document and finished today after my unforeseen hiatus and I did my best to tie it together. I'm sure you can tell where I started off here because even I can lol but hey, at least i'm writing I guess. Blame the teasers. I saw them and decided to go digging for anything I might have written before to help me get back on the writing train and this happened. I took A LOT of liberties so if you're a fashionista you might want to avoid this fic completely.

 

Changmin hadn’t expected the announcement in the papers, though he did vaguely remember Yunho asking him about it as he laid his boneless body down in their bed in the wee hours of that morning and unfortunately, he is pretty sure he had said something akin to a yes.

“Did you really have to?” he rolls over on the bed, onto his back, tossing the offending newspaper to the floor and stretching out his arms over his head, moaning unhappily at his various aches and pains as he stares up at the ceiling. He’d woken up barely half an hour ago to Yunho sipping coffee next to him and working on his laptop. He’d barely gotten a good morning kiss when his fiancé’s phone had gone off, the man apologising and explaining he needed to take the call and if he wanted anything. Changmin had asked for the papers, pouting rather uncharacteristically at the older man and earned himself an amused chuckle and a heavy ruffle to his head, making his bedhead worse than it already is.

It didn’t take long to see the notice, barely ten minutes really, and Changmin was about to roll out of bed and look for the man when he had returned to the bedroom.

“Have to what?” Yunho drops his phone on the nightstand and sits next to the teen. “Have to service you till you can barely walk? I think I can manage,” he smirks.

“You’re an old lecher,” the teenager growls, smacking the man’s arm.

“And you’re a young one, sweetheart. Let’s call a spade a spade alright. It’s too early to be arguing about your teenage libido unless you’re planning on discussing it with your body.” Yunho adds, running his hand down the model’s bare chest, the skin smooth and dry to the touch, the apartment’s air-conditioning making sure the easily overheated model is always comfortable.

Changmin catches the man’s hand before it gets any lower than his navel. “That notice in the paper.”

“Ah,” Yunho gets up and moves to the model’s other side, the teen lying breadthwise across their bed rather than with his head in the normal place and lying on the outer side near the foot of the bed. “Papers,” he corrects.

“Papers?”

Yunho smiles affectionately, flicking the teenager’s nose, the smile widening when he gets a warning growl in return. Bending his head to nip at the boy’s bicep, he sees the flare of heat in Changmin’s eyes and he figures he better explain before things get out of hand again and one of them forgets the conversation which is clearly what happened here.

“I asked if you wanted me to send notices out to the papers since you’ve practically declared it to my circle anyway about our impending nuptials.”

“And…”

“You said yes.”

Changmin sits up quickly, unable to help his gasp of pain as his ass and back protest something fierce, Yunho up in the next second and rubbing his back gently. Arching into the man’s palm, it is a silent request, one he’s asked for enough times for the man to comply easily.

Climbing across the teen’s long legs, he settles against the headboard, and not a second too soon for the young supermodel is soon pressed against his clothed side, uncaring that he is absolutely nude, the covers slipping off when the moved, groaning in pain and asking to be soothed without actually vocalising it. He can feel the boy’s flaccid member against his thigh as he whines in pain, resting his head against Yunho’s shoulder and curling into his side.

Yunho had found, much to his surprise and delight, that the teenager is actually very tactile despite the cold exterior he exudes. In public, even in company he trusts which is primarily the Parks, Changmin’s touches are restrained, even borderline unfriendly at times. However when it’s just Yunho with no eyes around them, the boy turns into someone else. Yes, he is intensely sexual, but it’s more than that. He never tries to hide his aches and pains from Yunho, usually actively seeking the man out and demanding he fix it since it’s his fault his back or thighs or ass hurt in the first place anyway and the businessman is not inclined to remind the insatiable teen that it definitely takes two to tango in this instance.

Feeling inexplicably warm with the model in his arms, he presses a kiss to the boy’s forehead as he kneads his fisted knuckles into Changmin’s lower back the way he knows he likes.

“I’m declaring a moratorium on asking for things after sex.”

Yunho gets a painful pinch to the inner thigh for laughing at the grouchy supermodel’s morning after declaration.

~~~

The next few weeks were mostly spent laying low on Changmin’s part for he had been accosted and bombarded by journalists and paparazzi alike to the point that Yunho had allocated a car and driver to his future spouse so he can get to and from his shoots unmolested. Though the teen had wanted to protest the town car because no supermodel, apart from Park Jaejoong perhaps, turns up to work on a daily basis in a limousine, he is admittedly protected from the people milling about outside the various venues of his shoots.

Changmin did not entertain the reporters at all in the first three days of their return home before Yunho realised it was a problem for the teen and made the transport arrangements, not even when he was called a gold-digger, ignoring the questions and taunts for he knows he is anything but. Jaejoong had been with him on one occasion, the blond model furious enough which is how Jung Yunho came to learn about it for the handsome young model he will soon call wife was not inclined to tell him.

Still fiercely independent, Changmin isn’t quite ready to share all his problems with the man, especially when Yunho tends to be a little heavy-handed with his reaction.

No one had dared to ask the mogul about his coming marriage directly of course apart from a select group of men including Micky Park Yoochun who had been extremely amused when news of what happened at the charity event was retold to him and he had immediately made his presence known at the man’s Seoul office.

~~~

_“You know when you told me you were marrying him and no notice came for weeks, I thought perhaps you were just joking. But you had to go and do it didn’t you? And not just one paper which would have been more than sufficient but every single paper? AP even picked it up and it was broadcast internationally on Sunday night did you know that?”_

_Yunho doesn’t bother answering his friend, running his eyes down the report he’d just been given about the rig issue. Micky definitely married the right man because both of them are quite happy carrying on one-sided conversations for the most part._

_“You’re making me look bad. Jae told me this morning that I should sit with you a few hours a day and learn how to treat a wife.”_

_Yunho does look up then, frowning slightly. “Your wife is different from mine. Changmin never asks for anything.”_

_“He didn’t make you send all those notices?”_

_Leaning back in his chair, the industrialist contemplates his friend. “He was quite annoyed when he saw one notice. He was even more annoyed when he realised it wasn’t in just that paper. I’m just glad we flew back separately and he was in midair when it reached the networks because he would have given me hell about the evening news too, finding some way to blame me for it when it really wasn’t my doing.”_

_Micky walks around the desk and hops onto it, scrutinising his best friend closely. “Well, you are Jung Yunho, the same man who not six months ago gave an interview saying he had no intention of getting married in the near or distant future. Something this big was bound to make the news. So if you didn’t have to do it, why did you?”_

_Yunho’s answer is brusque, turning his attention back to the report._

_“He’s mine and it’s about bloody time everyone else knows it.”_

~~~

Jung Corporation’s PR team has been working quite hard in the last few weeks. The industrial accident had leaked and the company’s indirect involvement in it had needed quite a bit of spinning, especially since there were rumours of a potential lawsuit. Some had even speculated that the wedding announcement had been a ploy to distract, Changmin so good at convincing Yunho to keep a low profile about their relationship that even his own employees are hard pressed to believe it.

Yunho had contemplated flying out to shut the matter of the accident down personally three days after being informed, but it was later the same day that he’d found out about Changmin being harassed by reporters and there was absolutely no way he would leave his fiance to fend off the wolves alone. Changmin hadn’t accepted his town car with any grace whatsoever, completely furious with Jaejoong for even telling Yunho about the incident in the first place, and the mogul would not put it past the headstrong teenager to dodge the car and his driver slash bodyguard if Yunho left the country so he remained in Seoul, conducting his business from his city and home office, sometimes pulling 16 hour days due to the time difference.

While he rarely saw Changmin during the day, he is always waking the teen when he returns to their bed, the boy never once rejecting him even when woken from deep sleep.

Three weeks fly by quickly without the Jung-Shim couple being seen together in public since the event in Tokyo, Yunho knowing full well what people are still saying about them as a couple, but his teenager couldn’t care less.

Pressing the gorgeous boy against the front door of the penthouse, he smiles at the flashing eyes of the tall brunette.

“We’re going to be late, old man.”

“The flight isn’t going to leave without us, brat.”

“It must be nice to be you,” Changmin mutters, remembering a couple of incidences where his flight had left him, his hand automatically going up to fix his fiancé’s cap.

As if reading his mind, the businessman takes off his cap and leans in. “It is nice to be you too. No plane is going to leave without you again,” he murmurs against the boy’s mouth before kissing him, the teenager’s lips parting without any coaxing, allowing Yunho to delve in to taste his sweetness.

Truth be told, Changmin is nervous. He had made a bit of a spectacle of himself the last time they were out together and now he’s stepping out officially as Jung Yunho’s fiancé. He knows the man expects him to behave in a manner that befits his role, but he had definitely not behaved appropriately at that dinner and yet Yunho doesn’t seem to mind or care.

Again, the man seems to have a knack of seeing through his head because Yunho draws back with a rueful chuckle. “I can practically hear the cogs going in that brain of yours since I can say you’ve just done what I’d describe as _thoughtfully sucking on my tongue_.” Stepping back a step, he runs the back of a finger against the model’s smooth cheek. “Just be yourself. If I can’t distract you with a kiss, I know you’re worrying. We’re going to fashion week, not a dinner for a head of state. You’ll be fine. Just be you.”

Changmin rolls his eyes, pushing the older man back and snatching the cap from his hand. “So I don’t have to be just seen and not heard? I can swear at you and call you an old man in front of others?”

“Yes to the former, no to the latter,” Yunho grins and smacks the teen’s ass lightly just before the boy slaps his cap down on his head irritatedly. “Ok, maybe the latter too within reason.”

~~~

Changmin is used to flashes going off in his face but Yunho not so much.

The supermodel walks through the crowd without a second glance around him despite the calls from the many photographers to look their way.

_”Changmin! Changmin! How does it feel to snag one of the world’s most eligible bachelors?”_

_“Changmin! Changmin, look here please! We just want a comment!”_

_“Changmin! Shim Changmin! Come on, cut us a break. You don’t have to work anymore but we have kids to feed.”_

_“Changmin! Come on one pose with your handsome moneybags.”_

That last one catches his attention. Stopping dead with a scowl that could and probably would scorch the earth, the supermodel does the uncharacteristic. Grabbing the protruding lens of the offensive cameraman, he yanks it forward, causing the smirking owner to startle, losing his grip on his livelihood and stumble to the ground, bumping into the willowy brunette who steps back right into the solid frame of his affianced.

The flashes explode tenfold at the confrontation, but most would only catch the Jung mogul whispering something into the angry teenager’s ear that somehow tugs the thin line of his generous mouth up at the tips. The fallen photographer would only get a business card casually flicked onto his prone body for his pains and his camera dropped unceremoniously to the ground next to him as the couple walk away side by side, continuing to ignore the calls and flashes as they enter the ostentatious Lincoln Continental waiting for them.

He can try to sue of course, scraping himself and his thankfully unharmed camera off the floor as he reads the card he was given, the space around him freeing up, the crowd having moved with the couple.

_Kwon Ji-Yong._

The fucker had thrown him his lawyer’s card.

Not even his PR department.

His fucking lawyer.

_Go on, I dare you._

He doesn’t.

~~~

“You’re not walking.”

“I’m not walking, i’m posing. It’s a fucking Balenciaga shoot. I’m not saying no.”

“Damn it, Changmin. We’re here for you. You’re not working, this is a holiday.”

Changmin comes out of the walk-in closet of their sumptuously appointed hotel suite, eyes sparking as he pulls a loose dark blazer over his simple white tee. “Care to repeat that, old man? You’re here for me and yet you’re telling me what to do?”

Yunho cards his hand frustratedly through his hair, ruffling up the flattened locks from being locked under a cap for hours. “Changmin…”

“Look, it’s one shoot. It won’t take more than a few hours since it’s a not a full campaign, just a teaser, like a clue to what the catalogue will be like. I’m the only model so you can come along if you want.”

Yunho’s hand stops mid-ruffle. “Really?” While he has followed Changmin on his overseas shoots, he has never actually been present at one. He figures there has to be a line drawn somewhere, and while Changmin is welcome in his office anytime, Yunho still isn’t sure if he is welcome in the younger man’s workspace.

Changmin looks at the youthful features of his much older fiance. Usually dressed in a bespoke suit, the man is extremely underdressed in a simple black turtleneck and jeans, having discarded his jacket and cap upon reaching their hotel room. He looks more than a full decade younger for it, and he feels their age difference a lot less in that moment. Heck, he even feels briefly older.

There is a strange pang in his chest at the half surprised half hopeful expression on the older man’s face, but he shrugs it off, schooling his features, hiding behind a forced smile when all he actually feels like doing in that moment is to hug the man and kiss his assurance that of course he wants him to come along.

He has no idea what is wrong with him. Where did independent supermodel Shim Changmin go? The sentimentality is going to choke him, but even though he feels like he should break the weird atmosphere with a snark, something is stopping him.

That fucking pang in his chest.

What he thinks is a smile looks more like a grimace to Yunho, but the man will take it. Changmin has never invited him to a shoot, usually pissed off every time Yunho contrives to come along to his shoots even though he never actually intrudes at the studios or various locations. The fact that he comes along seems to piss his affianced off enough, and yet he is actually inviting him along this time. Yes, he looks like he regretted it the second he offered, but Yunho isn’t about to turn him down.

“Can I go like this or do I need to change?”

“You can go naked for all I fucking care.” Changmin rolls his eyes and turns to return to the closet to pick out something, his actions once again betraying his words.

—

“Ok this is the final one, gorgeous. I need you to look like you want to be fucked, but it’s an open invitation that can only be accepted by one. Like you’re there for the taking, yet not. I want people to believe you want it, but your expression needs to be aloof enough for them to think…he wants it but it’s not me he wants. So you can’t cheat and look at the camera like it’s your tall drink of water over there.”

Yunho bites his tongue. Changmin had earlier promised castration if he even looks at the photographer the wrong way.

Not the PD.

Not the stylists or the set designers.

Not even the fashion house’s representatives.

The fucking photographer.

_“Steven cannot be bought so if you even breathe at him in the wrong way I swear to god I’ll Lorena Bobbitt you.”_

Good to know where he sits on Changmin’s list of priorities.

Not even his cock is safe.

However the photographer, apart from his rather explicit directions at times, is the soul of professionalism. Changmin blooms and blossoms under his direction and it is truly a joy to watch. The fact that the man is pushing 60 is the only other thing stopping Yunho’s rather unbecoming shade of red and green from coming out.

[](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/beeswaxing/38670780/111639/111639_original.gif)

_Love is something that comes and goes_

Yunho watches Changmin turn, sinfully pink parted mouth an invitation to the camera as a petite lady of uncertain ethnicity speaks into a microphone while the photographer works.

[](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/beeswaxing/38670780/111918/111918_original.gif)

_It’ll make you feel lonely, hurt you_

He turns to the monitoring feed just as the lady finishes her sentence and the way Changmin turns away actually does hurt.

_I know you want me, but you can’t fucking have me._

That’s what the lady should have said.

“Bellissima. That’s a wrap.”

The change is instantaneous as Changmin straightens, smiling self-consciously as he ruffles his already curling hair. Yunho had been very amused at the stylists fluttering over the teenager every fifteen minutes or so to try and tame the curls in his hair as the straighteners fight against his hair’s natural tendencies.

Yunho strides towards the boy as the teen wraps his arms around himself in a very distinctly youthful manner, chin dropped low, inhaling the bright green top he is wearing and sighing about how lovely the fabric feels.

Stopping short, remembering his promise that Changmin is at fashion week to buy not walk or work, the man turns to a lady he knows is from the fashion house. “I’ll buy that.”

“Excuse me?” she asks, completely bewildered.

The teenager chokes back a startled laugh. “What? No, you don’t have to.”

“I insist. How much is it? I’ll pay twice.”

Changmin starts laughing, shaking his head. “No, fuck. You really don’t have to.”

“Thrice?” Yunho tries, ignoring the teen’s laughter, his eyes on the woman as if trying to get her to comply through his gaze alone.

To be fair, it normally works.

This time however, she merely looks like he’s grown an extra pair of ears or something, sniffing in disbelief and shaking her head at him before turning to walk away.

Not before she mutters something in Spanish though.

Something that Changmin and most of the room clearly understand as they all laugh.

Jung Yunho, CEO of Jung Corporation and former eligible bachelor is left feeling like a simpleton wondering what he did wrong.

Feeling sorry for his fiance, knowing he had good intentions, Changmin goes over to the older man and thumbs his jaw, his eyes smiling.

“You can’t buy anything unless they let you buy it. They don’t need your money, old man.”

“But you like this.” Yunho tugs at the sweater. It’s really bright, and in all honesty, he cannot imagine a single soul looking good in it. Anyone but Changmin of course.

“I can have it.”

“They’re paying you in clothes?”

Changmin laughs again, shaking his head. “No, but consider it a perk. You don’t have to buy me anything here.”

“The one thing I’m actually good at, and I can’t even do it.”

“Cheer up, old man. I’m sure you can find something else you’re good at besides buying me useless shit.”

The teenager’s eyes are merry, smiling as he turns to follow the Balenciaga rep who, at the instructions of the fashion house, had been given free reign to give Shim Changmin whatever he wanted from the choices he just modelled, and even those he didn’t.

It is a good thing indeed that she knows the supermodel well, otherwise she might just forget those instructions in light of the designer wear being referred to as _useless shit_. His bark is much worse than his bite.

The photographer approaches the businessman, his accent thickened by his amusement at the man’s expression. “My friend, models like him can take whatever they want and we will give it to them.”

“I thought models had a hard life? When I met him, he was sharing a tiny studio apartment with his best friend.”

“He probably wasn’t home most of the time so that was likely out of choice.” He steps back eyeing the tall Asian man up and down thoughtfully. “You know Linda Evangelista?”

“Not personally, no. One of the original supermodels. Everyone knows her.”

“Do you know that famous quote of hers?”

Yunho tilts his head, eyeing the much older American photographer. “$10,000 a day? That one?” there is a very faint unspoken question in his voice. He has never pried into Changmin’s earnings. Not in a serious manner. He knows the teen earns a lot and squirrels most of it away in a savings account he doesn’t actually need. Whatever allows Changmin to feel in control, he’s fine with. Changmin’s money is his own to do as he pleases. Yunho will not interfere.

“He makes thousands from one shoot and he can book three or four a day at the height of the season. That figure is not even worth one shoot for him. He will never want for work because he has that elusive quality we photographers love.”

“He looks good?”

“All models look good.”

“What is it?”

“What do you think it is?”

Yunho frowns. “How would I know? Apart from his annoying best friend, he’s the only model I actually know.”

The photographer’s smile is a little wistful as he watches the powerful yet somewhat clueless younger man. “His personality.”

“His what?”

“His personality. He’s not stupid or vapid even though I know he pretends he is sometimes. He’s not fooling anyone though, especially not the veterans in this industry. We know diamonds when we see them.” The man’s smile turns sly, eyeing the mogul up and down again. “As I’m sure you recognised when you met him. From the accounts I’ve heard, you only met a few months ago and now you’re getting married? An astute businessman such as yourself would know a diamond when he sees it.”

“Fair point,” Yunho admits, nodding, his head turned towards the wardrobe room where Changmin seems to be taking a rather long time in picking out clothes. “But I can’t imagine his personality being anything good when showing off clothes.”

The American shakes his head. “Models are more than that. Good ones especially. He tells a story and his personality helps. He knows how to convey whatever it is we need conveyed and he has the brains to go with it.” The man takes a deep breath, his voice impassioned after the flawless shoot he just had. “He’s a photographer’s dream. He creates movement in a still photograph. Do you know how difficult that skill is? There are models older and longer in the industry than him who should take classes from him. As much as I love the industry, it is still a racist one, and yet your darling boy commands top dollar despite being so very young.”

Yunho chuckles, patting the older man’s arm to calm him. “I’ll have to take your word for it, I’m sorry. I only see Changmin. I wouldn’t be able to compare him with anyone else because they will always fall short so why bother looking.”

Changmin, trundling two full suitcases behind him hears Yunho’s words and stops short, breath catching. He sees Steven looking over at him, and the photographer winks, giving him a thumbs up behind Yunho’s back. Steven is the only reason he accepted the last minute Balenciaga booking. Most models worth anything would kill to be his muse and Changmin having been requested specifically for this shoot was not going to give up the opportunity for anything. He did not bother explaining this to Yunho of course when they argued briefly about it earlier because a CEO of Yunho’s calibre would probably scoff at something so trivial, but little does he know, his husband-to-be appreciates every single thing about him.

It’s a lesson that will take a while to sink in, but it will.

Yunho turns, catching sight of the slightly befuddled teen, forgetting his words once again and how they sound because he was simply stating the truth.

“Took you long enough, brat. Did you take everything or something?”

“Almost,” Monica the Balenciaga rep laughingly admits. “But he looks so good it would be a sin for him not to get some wear out of them.”

“Would it be a sin if I took him out of them?”

Steven’s laughter is the loudest.

~~~

**Balmain  
Christian Dior  
Lanvin  
Yohji Yamamoto  
Givenchy  
Loewe  
Valentino  
Yves Saint Laurent**

Plus a whole other host of unpronounceable fashion houses Yunho has never even heard of.

Changmin points.

Yunho buys.

He has no idea how much he has spent.

Though he cannot even begin to care, because Changmin being Changmin, he hadn’t bought a trousseau. He had bought something for everyone.

Something (okay, a few things) for Jaejoong.

Even Micky.

Largely Yunho.

~~~

_“That vest would look great with your stuffy white shirts.”_

_“Dior or nothing. Shut up, you buffoon. You don’t know fashion. I hate your linen pants and that shirt and those shoes will make it better.”_

_“If I can’t burn those fucking pants then you can at least look presentable pairing it with that sweater. I swear to god, old man, it’s fucking Balmain. There is no hate in Balmain.”_

_“Did you seriously say that looked good? I know it’s Givenchy but even I have to admit it’s fucking ugly.”_

_“Remember how this works? I point and you buy? You didn’t say it had to be for me. Your idea of casual is Hugo Boss. Mine is Lanvin. Deal with it. We’re getting that.”_

_“It’s Valentino.” (And that apparently was the end of the conversation.)_

~~~

Yunho is pretty sure he must be most fashionable CEO now.

Completely against his will.

But fashionable nonetheless.

~~~

**Balenciaga (the final show)**

_“She’s here.”_

_“Oh my fucking god she’s here. Why am I walking today? I’m going to die.”_

_“She didn’t attend any other show this year did you know? Why is she here now?”_

_“You don’t question why she’s anywhere. Ms Anna can come and go wherever the fuck she wants.”_

_“She’s here.”_

_“Fuck.”_

Changmin isn’t walking but he did come early to visit backstage and everyone is aflutter because her majesty herself is here. There’s no need for last names, Ms Anna will do. And he for one is equally thankful he isn’t walking. He doesn’t even know what the woman looks like behind her shades, and walking in front of her, he is pretty fucking sure his long legs will decide to entangle themselves and he’ll fall flat on his face right in front of her.

“Minnie I’m going to die. DIE,” one beautiful blonde model theatrically grabs onto the taller teenager and pretends to swoon into his arms.

“Don’t call me that,” he chides, not seriously because well, it’s _her_ out there. He’ll forgive anyone anything at the moment.

“Seriously, what if I fall?”

“I’ll catch you.”

“You’re in the first row?”

“Yes.”

“What if I fall far away from you?”

“I’ll walk over and pick you up.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I’m being serious!”

“Minnie…” her voice is a whine, and normally grating, again, Changmin indulges her because god knows he really is thankful he isn’t walking.

Really.

Fucking.

Thankful.

“Fuck. Who is she talking to? She never sits with anyone and she just moved to sit next to that guy.”

“Damn, he’s hot. Much too young for her but still hot.”

“He looks kinda familiar…”

“Hey, isn’t that? It is…oh my god. Minnie!”

Changmin growls this time. It’s one thing having Lita whining into his ear and calling him Minnie. It’s another having another one holler it across the entire backstage.

“What the fuck? I know you guys are nervous but don’t take it out on me,” he grumbles, half carrying half dragging Lita, the blonde deadweight.

“Uh…we’re not nervous anymore but maybe you should be.”

“What?”

“Look who Ms Anna’s talking to.”

“She’s not just talking, she’s smiling and her hand in on his thigh.”

Changmin freezes.

No.

No.

No. No. No. No. Fucking. No.

He doesn’t even have to look.

He’s going to kill Yunho.

Make that castrate.

—

“Jung Yunho as I live and breathe. Fancy seeing you here.”

“Anna, beautiful as always though your acting needs work.”

The woman laughs lightly, shaking her signature pageboy bob blonde hair and offering her hand.

The man indulges her, his smile genuine, offering her his seat as he takes the one next to her.

“Still running hot, I see,” she remarks, referring to his warmed seat.

“Still scaring everyone half to death, I see,” he observes as the previously occupied seats behind him are vacated hastily.

She shrugs daintily, smiling as she places a hand on his thigh. “It’s been awhile. Let’s drop the rubbish, shall we?”

“Of course, mademoiselle.” Yunho tilts his head someone mockingly. “Your wish is ever everyone else’s command whether they want it to be or not.”

“Except yours.”

“There are always exceptions,” Yunho’s eyes leak amusement as the older woman accepts his words with an annoyed huff.

“So tell me, is it true?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” the handsome man leans back, casually draping his arm around the back of the woman’s chair in a rather friendly manner. “This is your world. I am but an unwanted pest.”

“Pest? Perhaps. Unwanted? I dare say, you’re more wanted than ever.”

“Well that is too bad, isn’t it?” he drawls lazily, looking into the woman’s face, eyes boring into hers even though hers are well hidden. “I’ve been off the market since June.”

“Well, you’re never one to mince words so I’ll take it that the rumours are true. Are you going to introduce him?”

“You’ve never met?”

“I know of him and his portfolio or work, but no, I have never met him. Does he know we know each other?”

“No. It never occured to me to tell him and he’s never asked.”

“Ever?”

“He never asks for anything.”

“I hear it differently.”

“You heard wrong. When did you lower yourself to indulging idle gossip?”

Yunho’s voice is quiet, but that leashed menace quality he seems to have mastered in the boardroom is right there. An undertone and quite mild, but there nonetheless. She may be a friend, but Yunho remembers the names they called Changmin back home and he is sure it has followed him here. He’s been a lot more tolerant and indulgent this past week, mindful that it is Changmin’s world, so he plays the part of the besotted older fiance out of his element, allowing the teenager to lead them both.

You can’t really be a gold digger when the gold mine was given to you to do whatever the fuck you wanted with it.

“I listen to everything that messes up my world, Jung. Perhaps I overstepped here though. My apologies.”

“Will you interfere?”

“Will you?”

“That depends on your answer.” Yunho stares at her, no longer joking.

Finally relenting, she lifts her hand to take off her sunglasses to meet the man’s eyes, totally oblivious to the collective heart attack going on backstage at the Balenciaga show that is slowly starting to fill.

“I already have,” she replies, her voice without inflection. “I told Steve to call him for the Balenciaga shoot the other day to make sure you came today.”

“Why?”

“I was feeling charitable.”

Yunho’s fist tightens and she feels it against the flesh of her shoulder, but she lays a conciliatory hand on his thigh before he says anything. “I wanted to see him for myself.”

“So the shoot was a farce? Anna—“

“It wasn’t a farce, I promise. It went better than expected in fact. Beyond even my expectations. Calm yourself.”

Yunho’s eyes are shuttered as he stares at the beautiful older woman’s penetrating eyes. “Are you done?”

She pauses, searching his eyes. He has helped her out of a couple of pinches a few years ago and they corresponded infrequently since. Their relationship is purely business but with a mutual respect she finds extremely hard to come by. Though young, his ideals are like hers. He wants things done yesterday not later and expects no less. She cannot imagine him expecting any less in his private life either and from what she knows of the very young supermodel, his work ethic is exemplary which speaks a lot to her.

Steve had sung him nothing but praise for pretty much an entire dinner, and that speaks volumes in itself.

Admittedly, it is pure curiosity that brought her there, and she will leave it where it belongs.

If Jung Yunho were the type to be swung by a pretty face then he would have been married years ago. Substance needs substance.

“I won’t interfere again. I just wanted to see what kind of teenager managed to bring you to your knees.”

“If memory serves me right, he got me on my knees first.”

“Shame on you, Jung,” the blonde woman replies without missing a beat as she tilts her head back to acknowledge the lithe brunette with dark flashing eyes who has just joined them. “He’s just a boy.”

The grin that transforms her friend’s face nearly causes an eye-roll without the protection of her shades. Perhaps the pretty face has a thing or two do with it after all.

Yunho pulls away and stands, wrapping his arm possessively low around the teen’s lower back, he leans in for a kiss which Changmin avoids at the very last second, turning so his mouth grazes his cheek instead.

“Always a brat.”

“Always an asshole.”

The lady tries to hide her surprise at the supermodel’s oddly heated words, catching the exchange, but her cough-chuckle wasn’t fooling anyone.

Especially not a rather heartsick teenager who once again finds himself falling short.

How is he supposed to compete with her? Fucking simpering females at the auction were one thing but her? The dame of fashion herself? Age is but a fucking number. Changmin is basically the equivalent of the dirt on her shoe when it comes to fashion hierarchy. There is no competition.

She could break his career in an instant and he would have let her.

He just needed to know.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” borderline rude, but Yunho doesn’t notice, the man easily distracted by the beauty in his arms.

“I know you, Shim Changmin,” she replies coolly without giving the mogul a chance to respond, eyeing the teenager who looks torn between a strange mixture of anger and tears. She offers her hand, assessing his mood, never taking her eyes off his rather expressive face.

He looks at it, his words tight behind gritted teeth. “Are you sure you want me kissing that hand? Who knows where my mouth has been.”

And there it is.

Jealousy.

That was all it was.

And feisty to boot.

If he was really a gold digger the way the others were saying, he wouldn’t be committing career suicide here without even knowing how close his husband-to-be was with her. She knows for a fact that he has no idea of her past dealings with his husband from Jung’s earlier words and for him to challenge her instead of fawning and simpering says a hell of a lot more of the boy.

She resists the urge to smile, and does the next best thing.

“Nowhere mine has ever been, I can assure you. Sheathe your claws, darling. This asshole is one hundred percent yours.”

Pausing for a moment, before snapping back into himself, Changmin takes her hand and behaves appropriately.

Breaking the odd mood, Yunho interjects, “And this brat is one hundred percent mine.”

The twin withering, equally haughty looks directed at him from either side, sex and age aside, made for one of the best candid photographs of Paris Fashion Week 2010.

—

**WALKING OR WATCHING? HE’S BUYING, DARLING**

**A SHOPPING SPREE FASHION WEEK ENDS ON A HIGH FOR ONE SUPERMODEL**

**THE DAME HERSELF HAS HAMMERED THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN ON THE JUNG-SHIM RUMOURS**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so glad to be around for their 15th anniversary T_______T Thank you everyone who has sent me messages of support etc. I'm still not myself but this has been the biggest step towards it so far so thank you again.


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